<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Titans and Tentacles by SilverSerpent99</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28427412">Titans and Tentacles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSerpent99/pseuds/SilverSerpent99'>SilverSerpent99</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Original Character-centric, Original Characters - Freeform, Playing Canon Like A Cheap Kazoo, Swearing, alternative universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:28:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,669</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28427412</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSerpent99/pseuds/SilverSerpent99</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>As if the Titans weren't enough, interdimensional beings show up, posing a new threath -- and a new possibility. This story will follow a squad of universe-drifter Survey Corps. All ocs.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I am nervous as hell, my very debut here on AO3! I am borrowing the AoT world but practically none of the characters (yet?), enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Luca normally didn’t hate paperwork, but now, as it piled up and up on her, she wished she could be anywhere but here. The afternoon was going to be long, tiring and sad; it was a day with a gray sky and persistent rain, and the soft drumming it made on the roof was the only sound she heard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were another ten people dead, fifty-something injured. Civilians. Within the walls. These weren’t even Titans, these were something entirely else -- black masses of tentacles and bloodlust what appeared out of nothing and sometimes disappeared back into the nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not very often, thankfully. Just often enough to be a nuisance -- intelligence dubbed the “unrthodox”, then the soldiers quickly started to call them “doxies”. Unfortunately, all the research was classified and very secret.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luca was pretty sure the researchers themselves didn’t know much more than she did, but slowly she got to the point where she considered killing someone for that not much more. As she dug through the pile of paper, there were oddities.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were, occasionally, accounts of either foreign objects or straight up people, sentient beings, appearing after the unorthodox, at the same place. The people were unharmed, but confused as hell and twice as unusual.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That wasn’t the weird part.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The weird part was that these were peculiar people. An account with a girl with parrot wings -- someone who seemed to know names of several people from the Survey Corps and kept blabbering about something called “phone” -- someone with greenish hair and weird tattoos. They were hard to miss. And there were no further trace of them. Nothing. They disappeared out of existence, left no trace in the records, not even an interrogation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The researchers, the bastards they were, probably knew about this and it was all classified like it was nobody’s business.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All Luca knew about these people were the rumors, specifically, monsters in the Training Corps. Apparently, the military swooped these people up, and tried to cover it up afterwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After the fifth report about the doxies, she had to take a deep breath, lay back and massage the temples. The words started bleeding into each other -- casualties, property damage and injuries became meaningless, and she started mixing up the names of those damn merchants who complained and decided the military should plaster for their losses. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As if the military had the money for that kind of shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A knock on the door. Luca flinched a bit, as if she woke from a dream, looked up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who’s that?” she asked. She glanced at the candle she used to measure time; it was almost past time for supper. Maybe a colleague, who wants to know what she”s doing so long instead of eating. Maybe she can convince them to help. “Come in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door creaked open, and a man appeared, tall, with broad shoulders, still in the uniform jacket and the vertical maneuvering straps. His red hair outlined his face, a wild color that made him a clear target against basically any background. His eyes, probably like Luca’s, were underlined with dark shadows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mateusz.” Luca didn’t even stand up to greet her superior, but she saluted, an informal and relaxed gesture. “What’s up? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luca.” Mateusz returned the salute. “I’ve been looking for you for an hour.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you look the part. Do you care for some tea?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A faint, fleeting smile appeared in Mateusz’ eyes, but he shook his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no. I’m almost done.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucky you” muttered Luca. Mateusz glanced at the pile of papers on her desk, then changed the topic quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, so. I wanted to ask something. You’re still onto the tentacle monsters? The doxies?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m onto whatever I get assigned to” Luca said quickly, at which Mateusz raised an eyebrow. Then, she sighed. “Okay. I’m not exactly onto anything about them. I’d definitely </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>to, but I am not.” She was bitter and tired. Did Mateusz just come to remind her of this? The paperwork already did that just fine!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great.” Mateusz smiled again, now it stayed a little bit longer. “Well, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to join my squad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luca sat there for a while, his head tilted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You what?” She wanted to ask if this is a joke, then: “You… know I’m not big on fieldwork. I finished last on the practical exams, remember?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I know, I don’t just need someone to kill Titans. See… you know the rumors about monsters in the military, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mateusz didn’t have to say anything more. Luca jumped on her feet, her chair toppled over and crashed on the floor. She glared in Mateusz’ eyes, with wrinkles in the corner, with a faint shimmer to them, smiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your squad? Your squad is the monster team?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded, with a smile, and held up a piece of paper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I asked for permission to include you. You’re interested in these things anyway, and honestly, I need a right-hand man. I got five people from god knows where, and two newbies. They are good guys, really, awesome fighters, but they need coordination.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So that’s why you wanted me.” Luca nodded. “Hey. I’m in, but I got a condition. Help me with this.” She gestured around her desk, as if she was going to gift the entire thing to Mateusz.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh man. Can I still ask for that tea?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure. Brace yourself, we’ll be here for a few hours.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Luca rides out to train in the woods, hoping to be alone. She doesn't have such good luck, but we get to meet two new, interesting people.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was morning, and the sun painted patches of gold on the ground which danced when the breeze picked up. It was a new, busy day beginning: Luca had to practice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This’ll be a nice change.” Only Luca’s horse could hear that, and he snorted in reply. He was a bit iffy; it was an early morning for him too. “Easy, easy. It’s okay, right? We’ll go on a trip.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And they went on a trip in the early morning birdsong, almost deafening, in an easy trot towards the rising sun. She forgot how much she loved this -- riding through the half-awake forest at the crack of dawn. Only her and her horse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no. That’s not a loop, that’s a roll.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The voice came through the birdsong and hoofbeats; it happened so suddenly that Luca pulled on the bridle instinctively. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought this was a roll!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s a spin!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>These were probably from the monster team, Luca said to herself. This was their spot, according to Mateusz.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She didn’t count on them being here this early. She counted on half an hour alone, peacefully practicing, with only the trees around her. Well, that wasn’t gonna happen now. She shut her eyes for a moment and let out an irritated sigh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, she needed to practice, whether there were others in the woods or not.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She urged her horse to move forward, the two voices continued to argue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay. Okay then. what does the spin mean?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It means I fucked up and I’m falling.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A moment of silence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you were good at this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am, but that doesn’t mean I never stall. And I am good at recovery.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, God. So, we should count on you doing some random maneuvers to regain your balance because you fucked up?” The voice was sharp with sarcasm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“As if you could do it better.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not my job. So, what do I put down for this? No meaning on spins? No protocol?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh… kinda. Only catch me if I get, like, very close to the ground. If I still got the space to recover, then I’ll be fine, probably.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s a big probably here. Oh, god, this will be a... “</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two people, two women were in the clearing. They only noticed Luca when she trotted in just a few feet from them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One of them looked normal, a Surveyor Luca didn’t know, in full uniform but without gear, oddly with a wooden bird in her hands. The other one had wings.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They shifted when she arrived. They were huge, leaf green and bright, dark blue. The feathers rustled and puffed up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luca stared at the winged person for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. She slowly registered that her hair was green, then that it wasn’t even hair: she had feathers on her head too. It also registered slowly that her face was round with very strong cheekbones, and that her skin tone was an earthy brown, and that she had unnaturally wide shoulders.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Excuse me?!” This was the other woman; judging by her tone, this wasn’t the first time she said this, but up until this point, Luca barely noticed she was here. “We’re in a strategy meeting here. Do you need something?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, kinda noticed that.” Awkward silence. “The strategy meeting part. Uh, I’m Luca Olmos. I got accepted into Mateusz Kubat’s team recently.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, okay.” The more normal-looking woman nodded, then at the confused gaze of her bird colleague, added: “Mateusz told about her. You know, that he wanted to get a private to help him?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The bird-person let out a soft “ooh”, then the other woman continued talking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Pleased to meet you” she said to Luca, who was just now getting off her horse; she held her hand out for a handshake. “I’m Sun-Jung Nae, I’m from around here, behind Wall Sina, and this is Diana Sun. She’s kinda... more complicated.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luca muttered awkward “pleased to meet you”s as she shook hands with her new squadmates. Sun-jung held her head up high, and looked straight into Luca’s awkward, shifting gaze, while Diana flashed an uncertain smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m from Rose. Uh, I want to get this out of the way, I’m not the best giant-killer out there” Luca said apologetically. “I’m mostly here to manage the team. I spent the last few months stuck behind a desk doing paperwork.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, you got </span>
  <em>
    <span>paperwork </span>
  </em>
  <span>here?” It was Diana, the bird-person, oddly surprised about this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes? What about it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Diana didn’t answer at first. A wide smile spread across her face; she was fighting back laughter, and that made Luca maybe even more confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Seriously, what’s funny about paperwork?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing. Nothing” Diana said quickly. “I’m sorry. I just… I thought it was a… uh.” She paused for a moment. “It was very prominent where… where I came from. I didn’t think it would be here too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Diana didn’t look like she wanted to tell any more, but Sun-jung nudged her in the side with her wooden bird. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tell the whole story. You’re just making her more confused” she said, and Luca nodded in agreement. Diana opened her mouth to say something, but Sun-jung continued almost immediately: “You’re articulate, you’re smart, you lived through the thing, you’re the best person to explain it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Diana sighed for a moment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay. So, I am from a different world. As literally as it gets. It had no titans, very different technology, uh, harpies were not exactly common but not unheard of, that stuff.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oookay.” Luca was unsure if she believed it or not, but she decided she can question it later. “Then how did you get here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, good question. We suspect it has to do something with the doxies. You know them, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do, they take up most of the paperwork.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Slight smile from Diana.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is all speculation, but we think they travel from world to world and sometimes accidentally take people and stuff with them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luca nodded, and they listened to the wind rustling for a while.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So” Diana continued, “I was… making a pie with my wife when our kid, she shouted for us to come, so I came. She was trying to wrestle one of these things to the ground. Uh, the doxies, those black tentacle guys. I just had to run to stop them from murdering eact other.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? Your daughter… actually fought… one of the Unorthodox?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She’s a kid and my wife raised her. She’d fight anyone. Uh, so I tried to get between them, get Rohini… my daughter, so I tried to get her away from that thing, and I was successful, but then I woke up around here. With titans and stuff.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Long, awkward silence. Sun-jung looked away and Luca just didn’t know what to say as she found herself grappling with the reality of this. How could this feel? Luca tried to imagine herself losing an entire life, a spouse and a kid of all things, out of nowhere, without time to even say goodbye. She couldn’t. The images felt forced and the feelings numb.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So!” Diana broke the silence. “Ms. Olmos, if I may ask, why are you here? You wanted to meet us?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, no, I came to practice. I’m rusty with the vertical gear, but I’ll join in with the strategy meeting just as happily.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good, okay. I can explain the-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I say let’s try it in practice.” Sun-jung cut off Diana mid-sentence. “The idea’s Diana flies up, scouts around and tells us what’s up by doing different maneuvers. For example, if she drops down a bit and turns back like real quickly, that means everybody turn back and run. If she does circles, that’s nothing cause she needs that for flying, little eights for someone needs help here, rolling sideways for titan spotted, and rolling forward is a come here sigh.” She took a piece of paper out of her pocket at this point, </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Rolling sideways is a loop” muttered Diana. “And ‘turning back real quick’ is called a </span>
  <em>
    <span>reverse Immlemann turn</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Goodness.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay. Okay then.” This was basically all Luca could say. “So, the base plan is, we fly around in the trees with the vertical gear, and you fly above, and if something’s up, you do a… loop or something?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“In a nutshell, yes. ” Diana stretched her wings a bit. “So, we should just fly around?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, there’s still a bunch of dummies from the trainees’ yesterday. Let’s say those are the targets, Diana does her aerobatics, we fly around and take ‘em out. I’ll translate to Luca.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sounds good to me” nodded Luca. Diana hesitated for a moment, then she nodded as well, then she jumped and took off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luca didn’t think taking off would make so much wind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It scared the horse a bit as Diana struggled to gain altitude with powerful wingbeats. They were loud and less than graceful, but they did the trick: Diana slowly but surely struggled up to the treetops and above. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait for me, Diana’s gonna fly higher and that takes a minute. I need to get my gear on.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luca helped her fix and fasten the straps, and then, they took off. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She forgot what a jolt of adrenaline this was. The wire yanked her up into the canopy, dangerously fast, towards a thicker branch. She released the grapple, and fell, fell, the dried leaves rushed up towards her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Can she still swing using only her momentum?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shot another grapple, but she didn’t reel this time; instead she shifted to put her weight on her left leg and struggled against the pull of the gear. She swung and flew and the leaves rushed by her at breakneck speed. She struggled to keep herself upright, and she almost cried out in triumph as she turned around the tree; almost a perfect circle. Sle let out some gas for bigger momentum, and the wire tugged harder, the leaves rushed by faster.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She caught a glimpse of Diana: her black silhouette against the bright sky, two huge wings with a small human-like figure between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s the weird roll!” shouted Sun-jung, trying to be heard over the headwind’s roar. “Titan spotted to the right!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luca shouted back: “Alright!”, then she released again -- the wire’s tug disappeared and for a jarring, uncertain moment, she felt out of balance. Then she shot another wire into anither branch, and flew, in a sweeping, elegant curve towards the right. The patches of sunlight blinked in the corner of her eye.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So this came out longer and more chill than I imagined, also a bit more aimless. I'm very uncertain about this, so let me know if you liked it! Any kudos and comments are a great help!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So, thank you for reading! Please remember to comment or leave kudos if you enjoyed this, any and all comments are greatly appreciated.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>